Compaq wins major outsourcing deal

Compaq has signed a massive outsourcing deal to provide global IT infrastructure for mobile operator Ericsson. Under the $150m five-year deal, Compaq will replace and run 16,000 PCs for the company.

During the first stage of the agreement, 170 Ericsson employees have transferred over to Compaq, which beat off rivals including IBM to clinch the contract.

Ericsson, which has 100,000 staff worldwide, claimed yesterday (3 April) that the outsourcing deal would save it around $11.5m annually in reduced IT costs.

Compaq will be responsible for technology refresh, server management, help-desk and desk-side support and hardware maintenance. The company will also support Ericsson's phone subscriber system as part of the deal.Jeff Lynn, general manager of Compaq's professional services division, said that the challenge for Compaq would be managing rapid growth at Ericsson. "Mobile telephony is undergoing massive change," he said. "The numbers of phones are going through the roof."